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the bombings in Madrid
Mar. 11th, 2004 08:33 pmAs I'm sure all of you are already aware, there was a major bombing in Madrid this morning, which has killed nearly 200 people and injured over a thousand. No one that I know was in or near the bombings, nor (as of yet) anyone that they know.
I don't have a television, so I've mostly been getting my news on the situation from messages from friends there, forwarded stories online, and so on.
I feel like I need to say something on the subject, although I have no idea as to what. But to ignore that it has happened, or not comment on it, seems wrong somehow.
I also imagine that many people will want to be able to offer sympathy or otherwise comment on what has happened, which is another reason to create a post on the subject for people to reply to.
In many ways, I've been very lucky: I live in two cities that have suffered major terrorist attacks in the past few years, and in each instance, I was in the other place: I was in Madrid during September 11, and I'm in New York now for March 11.
At the same time, being at a remove during these liminal historical/nationalistic moments has been strange. Maybe this is what being an expat is about, being left behind as something occurs in your former homeland. but it doesn't matter where I'm at, I wind up being out-of-synch like this.
I think not being present results in my not being able to go through all the stages of grief and anger fully and communally. So I am part of a community, in either place, but when I go back even though I will be affected, I will be left feeling like an impostor because I happened to be out of the country and missed all the aftermath, the demonstrations for peace and so on.
They have not confirmed who is responsible, as of now. I was not surprised when I later learned Al-Qaeda was claiming the bombing; while I do not condone ETA's practices in any way, it didn't really strike me as the kind of thing they would do. The trains that were blown up were primarily coming from working class communities outside of Madrid, bringing early morning commuters in to the center to go to work. And it has been my experience, over the last five years of living in Spain, that ETA is generally very careful not to kill civilians. They generally prefer very targeted attacks. The last major bombing that took place in Madrid, in the Plaza Callao (which is akin to, say, Herald Square in NYC) took place at 5:30 in the morning specifically to avoid injuring anyone. And while they did kill a homeless person who was sleeping in the scaffolding (where he oughtn't to have been) in the bombing of Callao, ETA issued a formal apology.
This is not to say they are definitely not responsible for the bombing; it just struck me as unlike them.
Apart from the horror at the simple brutality of the carnage and aftermath, I am very saddened because this attack means that the socialists have absolutely no chance of winning the political elections that are this Sunday and the right-wing Partido Popular will no doubt have a landslide victory.
(In order to encourage voter turn out, Spain holds its elections on Sunday, when the bulk of the population is off work and can therefore get to the polls without complications.)
I don't have a television, so I've mostly been getting my news on the situation from messages from friends there, forwarded stories online, and so on.
I feel like I need to say something on the subject, although I have no idea as to what. But to ignore that it has happened, or not comment on it, seems wrong somehow.
I also imagine that many people will want to be able to offer sympathy or otherwise comment on what has happened, which is another reason to create a post on the subject for people to reply to.
In many ways, I've been very lucky: I live in two cities that have suffered major terrorist attacks in the past few years, and in each instance, I was in the other place: I was in Madrid during September 11, and I'm in New York now for March 11.
At the same time, being at a remove during these liminal historical/nationalistic moments has been strange. Maybe this is what being an expat is about, being left behind as something occurs in your former homeland. but it doesn't matter where I'm at, I wind up being out-of-synch like this.
I think not being present results in my not being able to go through all the stages of grief and anger fully and communally. So I am part of a community, in either place, but when I go back even though I will be affected, I will be left feeling like an impostor because I happened to be out of the country and missed all the aftermath, the demonstrations for peace and so on.
They have not confirmed who is responsible, as of now. I was not surprised when I later learned Al-Qaeda was claiming the bombing; while I do not condone ETA's practices in any way, it didn't really strike me as the kind of thing they would do. The trains that were blown up were primarily coming from working class communities outside of Madrid, bringing early morning commuters in to the center to go to work. And it has been my experience, over the last five years of living in Spain, that ETA is generally very careful not to kill civilians. They generally prefer very targeted attacks. The last major bombing that took place in Madrid, in the Plaza Callao (which is akin to, say, Herald Square in NYC) took place at 5:30 in the morning specifically to avoid injuring anyone. And while they did kill a homeless person who was sleeping in the scaffolding (where he oughtn't to have been) in the bombing of Callao, ETA issued a formal apology.
This is not to say they are definitely not responsible for the bombing; it just struck me as unlike them.
Apart from the horror at the simple brutality of the carnage and aftermath, I am very saddened because this attack means that the socialists have absolutely no chance of winning the political elections that are this Sunday and the right-wing Partido Popular will no doubt have a landslide victory.
(In order to encourage voter turn out, Spain holds its elections on Sunday, when the bulk of the population is off work and can therefore get to the polls without complications.)
